12.30.2012. 13:00 PST 66F

Originally, we planned to stop at Turtle Bay after Ensenada. Tomas recommended Isla Cedros instead. We were skeptical, as the anchorage looks fairly exposed on the chart, but decided to check it out.

It is about 240 NM from Ensenada to Isla Cedros. Most of the trip was gorgeous — blue sky and following sea — Gray Matter averaged 8.9 knots the whole trip. We spotted several humpback whales on the way — they are HUGE.

As we approached Isla Cedros, NW wind and swells picked up big time. Even though the anchorages on Cedros should be protected from NW, we were still concerned the swells might wrap around the island like our experiences with the Channel Islands. At this point, Gray Matter also slowed down significantly, from almost 9 knots to 7 knots.

As soon as we cleared the north tip, it calmed down noticeably, and more so as we got south. The anchorage Tomas recommended was just south of the light house. This is supposed to be a sea lion colony, although we didn’t see any — probably out of the season.

A small village

We ended up settling down at an anchorage south of this one, just to get more protection. The edge of the island drops dramatically, as if cut of by a sharp knife — depth sounder reads 100ft one mile away from shore. We finally found 40 ft bottom and dropped the anchor.

Water temperature was about 67F, a tiny bit warmer than Catalina. We were just debating whether to go diving, when Mark saw a crap pot dragged behind the stern. Well, guess we are going! We jumped in with our scuba gear. There it is. The line of crab pot wrapped around the starboard stabilizer fin — no wonder we were going so slow!

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